Ramen Shop Girl
by emi-chan74
Summary: Ayame and Teuchi know Naruto better than any one else in Konoha... it's only natural that Ayame would care about him, right? Naru/Ayame one shot


**A/N: A quick Naru/Ayame one shot I wrote at the last night at like three in the morning. Um... It was just something I thought of at the last moment and really wanted to get down on paper before I forgot it. I just seem to think that Naruto would really be able to have a romance with her because they've known each other for so long. I've edited it a couple of times but if it sucks then sorry. I'm still new to writing fanfics so please review so I can get better! Any and all critisisms and critiques would be welcome and taken very seriously.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters within.**

**Thanks for reading! XD**

Ramen Shop Girl

"Yeah! Ramen! Ramen!" an exuburant blond said as he walked under the flaps that covered the entrance to Ichiraku Ramen. He was followed by a tall long haired jounin with a scar across his nose. "Hey Ayame! Sensei said he'd buy me ramen today!"

"Congratulations Naruto." Ayame said with a small smile. She was a pretty girl with pale blond hair and a cheery smile.

"This is the last time I buy you ramen Naruto. I'm serious this is the last time I reward you for picking up after one of your pranks." Naruto's teacher, Iruka, said. It wasn't an unusual sight for the two of them to be seen here after another one of Naruto's pranks. With all said, Naruto was probably here every day and Iruka every three with him.

"What did you do this time Naruto?" Ayame asked as the two climbed onto the stools and picked up their menus.

"Um... Well I..." Naruto said blushing slightly now, "I spray painted the faces of the Hokages."

"Oh God! That was you?" Naruto was unable to reply to the girl but instead buried his face in his menu. After a couple of seconds he placed his order for Miso Ramen with extra pork slices and Iruka-sensei requested Shrimp Ramen. After delivering their orders, Ayame started to clean up the counters. After a while she heard the two talking.

"Why of all places, did you choose to deface that spot? I mean, you do know who Lord Hokage is, right?" Iruka asked the small boy next to him who was practically engulfing his ramen without chewing.

"Of course! To inheirt the Hokage name... He'd have to be the best shinobi in the village. It was the Fourth Lord Hokage who saved our town by finding a way to beat the demon fox." the small boy replied, not stopping to finish eating but eating with his mouth full.

Iruka sighed and shook his head wearily, "OK, then... why?"

" Because one of these days, they're be calling me Lord Hokage!" Naruto perked up and stopped eating for a few seconds. He jerked up and thrust his chopsticks in front of him in a thrust of gusto to make a force on his point. "I'm going to surpass every one who came before me! And when that day comes everyone in town will have to give me some respect at last!"

Naruto calmed down slightly and after eating a few more bites of ramen he turned to his sensei and putting his hands palms together, as if he was praying, "By the way... Master, I need a favor..."

"Another bowl of ramen?" Iruka asked with a grin.

"Uhhh... Your headband. That leaf you're wearing... Pretty please?"

Iruka chuckled and replied to the young blond, blue-eyed girl, "My... this? No. Not yet. No Way. It's a badge of adulthood. You don't get one until you graduate!"

"What a rip off!" Naruto yelled at the top of his voice. The sudden noise startled Teuchi who promptly dropped a the stack of he was carrying. The porcelain broke all over the floor and Ayame ran and started to sweep it up.

Iruka was still laughing at his student, "Hah! So that's why you took off your googles!"

"Hey!" Teuchi said to Ayame as she threw away the pieces of left over porcelain.

"More Ramen here!" Naruto said throwing Iruka a covert look as the chuunin.

Before Naruto left that night Ayame called out behind him, "I'm sure you'll be a shinobi someday Naruto!"

Naruto's new teacher walked in. He was an older man with long silver white hair that seemed to defy gravity and a mask that in combination with his headband covered his entire face. Following him was his students. The four shinobi ate and just as Ayame came over with the bill, Kakashi 'poofed' away, leaving his students to foot the bill.

Just a few days later Kakashi walked back in alone. The store was about to close but Teuchi still put down the last bowl of ramen for him. Ayame pouted, 'Dammit, I was so ready to go to sleep. I already spent all morning shopping with the girls, I'm exhausted... Hurry up and eat you old Hentai so I can leave!'

Ayame expected Kakashi to eat the way he always did. To super quickly turn around, spin on the chair, scarf it all down in ten seconds flat and disappear. Instead Kakashi pulled down his mask.

His face was beautiful. Despite his age, or what all the citizens thought his age was, he face was like a baby's. He had a narrow face with high cheek bones that accented his dark onyx eye by making them seem larger. He had a thin, straight nose and pale lips that always seemed to be rotated into a slight smile.

'Oh my god! He's... he's gorgeous.' Ayame thought, all annoyances at the jounin's entry evaporating as her heart fluttered at the sight of his face, 'Wow...'

Naruto entered pushed away the flaps that seperated the restaraunt goers from the view of all the people walking along the streets. He held them open as a small pink haired girl walked in after him. Ayame could see how awkward Naruto was with the small girl, his teammate. She saw how his hands clenched, how he sweated, how he, for the first time ever, Naruto doubted his word choice and even shut up. He had a blush on his face and didn't just engulf all of his ramen in one gulp, he took human sized bites. Everytime the poor boy tried to open his mouth he started saying something and then trailed off, blushing profusely and then try to eat some ramen. The awkward silence that ensued between the cell mates seemed to descend over the entire restaraunt. No one seemed to be talking and the normal carefree and breezy atmosphere of the noodle bar was off.

Af the awkward silence continued Ayame couldn't seem to keep her eyes off the couple causing it. Part of her was happy for Naruto. He was finally able to show some real feelings, not just cover them up with his exubarunt speech and actions. He was trying to do things he never had before and trying to please someone else. It was a first for Naruto. 'Young love is always cute to those who've already experienced it,' Ayame thought to herself as she watched the two, 'No matter how awkward it is for the couple themselves.'

But part of Ayame wanted to kick the pink haired, green eyed kunoichi, Sakura, out of the building. Whenever she looked at the girl, who obviously was someplace else in her mind and not appreciating how much Naruto put into this. He had always been alone, Ayame and her father were some of the few people who talked and saw him everyday no matter what and they knew what horrible social skills he had. But here he was pouring every scrap of social ettiquete he knew into trying to please her and she really didn't care. It drove Ayame crazy. 'How can she not see he's trying! If she didn't like him then she shouldn't be stringing him along like this! It's not fair to make him work so hard for nothing!'

But that wasn't the only thing bothering Ayame about the couple. Beneath her anger and annoyance at the kunoichi for stringing Naruto along was something Ayame couldn't identify. It almost felt like jealously... but what to be jealous of? She knew she couldn't be a kunoichi, a weak heart at birth had made certain of that but Ayame had made peace with that a long time ago. Sure it annoyed her when she was younger but at least it meant she could help her father. Was she jealous of her exotic looks? Sure that girl looked a lot prettier than Ayame had looked at that age, 'and in all honesty probably better than she did now too.' But Ayame had seen Sakura and Naruto eating with the rest of their team, the gorgeous Kakashi and that dark haired Uchiha boy who always seemed like he had a stick up his ass.

But they'd never had ramen together like this, on a date! Was that what had her jealous? That the pink haired tart got to have a special place in the blond Kyuubi Container's heart? Shaking her head as she washed some used dishes Ayame got rid of the absurd idea. Of course not! Naruto was just a kid! Why would she even think that? 'I mean,' Ayame thought to herself, 'I'm the envy of every fangirl in Konoha. I got to see Kakashi's face. Why would I be wanting to be with that little kid?' Chuckling at her own childishness Ayame turned to ask the awkward couple if they wanted anything else only to find that Sakura had just gotten up out of her seat and dashed out the door leaving her unfinished ramen and Naruto sitting glumly at the table.

Ayame waked over to the distraught Naruto, "Good evening Naruto-kun."

"Oh... hi Ayame..." The poor boy looked so distant and just so pathetic it made Ayame want to wrap her arms around him in a hug.

"I'm so sorry Naruto-kun... I'm sure you'll get her next time!" Ayame said with a smile trying to cheer up their most consistent and ardent customer.

"Yeah... I guess so... I'll get her next time... Believe it!" Naruto said with a shrug. He placed some money on the counter and walked off saying, "See ya tomorrow Ayame-chan."

'Why wasn't he here? He hasn't had ramen in three months! He must have starved to death by now! That boy has never gone more than twelve hours without ramen before. Does he ever even eat anything else?' Ayame fumed to herself as she hand rolled the noodles. 'Dear Kami don't let him die yet... No one has even mentioned him in weeks and none of his teammates have come in either... It must be that pink haired tarts fault! Ever since she bailed on him, his visits became more and more infrequent. Sure part of of it is due to missions, I can respect that, but they wouldn't send a genin on a three month mission! First he was gone for a month, that was a good thing. I couldn't believe that he was allowed on the mission to look for Lady Tsunade! But a few days after he returned he just stopped showing up...'

Ayame finished up the noodles and began placing them in the boiling water when the tart walked in.. Ayame took her order and then after giving the girl her ramen she proceeded to go back to working on the noodles. It was barely eleven so she was the only customer so far and it didn't take much for Ayame to her the girl's stiffled sobs. Worried Ayame turned to see the girl crying into her ramen.

Ayame couldn't help it, she started to rub the pink haired girl's back and cooed to her, "What's wrong?"

"It's.. it's my fau...fault both of them le...left..." the girl said through her tear racked sobs. She swallowed a hiccup and became a little clearer in her speech swallowing her sobs, "Sasuke left be...because I... we couldn't hel... help him enough. We couldn't st... stop him from wan... wanting to kill Itach... Itachi. And when I... I saw him leaving the vill... village I couldn't convince him to st... stay."

"Shh... It'll be okay Sakura-chan. It wasn't your fault. Uchiha-san has a lot of problems and there was nothing you could do. You learned about it too late to help. You did all you could and it wasn't enough but it's not your fault." Ayame said. Despite how the girl hurt Naruto she felt sorry for her. Even Ayame knew that ever girl Sakura's age was in love with the Uchiha heir and she too knew what it was like to have your heart broken. Ayame's first crush had rejected her and even now she could remember that pain.

"That's not all though... I knew Naru... Naruto liked me. I never like him ba... back but when he asked me... here on a da... date I went anyway. And then I left during the mid... middle and that just hurt him so... so much." Sakura said through her tears, "I shouldn't ha... have led him on... and now... he's gone... training with the pervet." 'So she wasn't just trying to hurt him,' Ayame thought to herself, 'She didn't try to hurt him. She was just in love with Sasuke and nothing could change that.'

"Sakura!" Ayame said. He was training with Jiraiya, the Toad Sannin. "Naruto's probably happy training with Jiraiya!"

"Hu...huh?"

"Naruto's goal in life is to become the strongest shinobi in the village and become Hokage. Training with Jiraiya is like a miracle to him. It's a chance to learn from the best so he can be the next Hokage!"

"Yeah... I guess... I just feel so useless sometimes!" Sakura said wiping away her tears 'Useless? Oh Kami give this girl some brains!' Ayame thought to herself.

"C'mon! Your the Hokage's apprentice!" Ayame said giving the kunoichi a small slap on the side of the head, "If you were useless then you should end your work with Lady Tsunade now! Have some pride in your work girl!"

With a small smile Sakura looked up at Ayame. Her jade eyes glistened with the remains of her tears, "Thanks Ayame-chan... Your so nice. I'm glad Naruto had you and your dad as his friends all those years... thank you so much."

Ayame smiled. Naruto had just come back to Konoha a month ago and he was eating ramen again. It was only ten in the morning and Naruto was of course the first person there. "Thanks Ayame-chan!"

"No problem Naruto-kun... Hey can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure go ahead."

"What ever happened between you and Sakura-chan?"

"Sakura-chan?"

"We became friends while you were training. Now what happened?

"While I was training with Jiraiya, I realized that Sakura didn't care about me that way, and she never would. Even though someday she would probably get over Sasuke, by that time I would be over her. There was no point in going after something there was no chance in. I resolved that I would be her friend, and support her in any decisions she made. That's what we are now, friends, and I'm happy about that."

"That's great Naruto! Anyway you could do much better than that!"

"What are you talking about! Sakura-chan's a babe! You need to get your eye's checked Ayame-chan!"

"Sure she was pretty Naruto-kun, but she treated you like dirt. You need to be with some one who knows you and cares about your dreams and future. Sakura was too wrapped up in herself. No offense meant to her, but you were alone for a long time Naruto. You should be the center of focus for once in your life."

"Thanks Ayame-chan. I'll keep that in mind when I decide on who to go on a date with next time."

"I'm glad your taking my opinion on this Naruto-kun."

"Why do you ask by the way?"

"Oh no reason." Inside however Ayame was doing a victory dance. She was so happy. Because by now, Ayame had stopped pretending. 'I'm glad your not still stuck up on Sakura, because I want you all to myself Naruto-kun.' Ayame thought to herself as she dished him up another bowl of ramen. 'I love you Naruto-kun.'

Ayame sighed. It had been a long day but she still had a single bowl of ramen left. She just wanted tonight to end but she had to hold down the shop until all of the noodles were sold. It was just her working the noodle bar now, Teuchi was getting older and he handed down the shop to his daughter who spent all of her time working in it now. 'I miss having time to go shopping... I haven't even had a chance to look at the new spring line.'

Suddenly a flaps moved and walked in Naruto. The young boy who used to come in everyday and night for every meal had changed over the years. The loud, always shouting and opinionated blonde boy, bright blue eyes full of hope, always dressed in orange with googles just above his eyes was just a memory now. The person in front of was a man. He had long blond hair that spiked far above what it's normal range should have been, something he took from his silver haired sensei turned Seventh Lord Hokage, and wore the same coat his father had worn. He was a lot quieter now, not that he still didn't give him opinion on everything but he didn't feel the need to yell every ten minutes. And when he did want to get a point across he asked polietly and waited until it was appropriate, it was almost charming when compared to the way he used to be. His once hopeful and naive blue eyes were now focused and serious, waiting until he could take Kakashi's job from him and become the Eighth Lord Hokage.

He broke into a smile "Hey Ayame-chan!"

"Hey Naruto-kun! Last bowl of ramen has your name on it!"

"Seriously? Yes!" Naruto said with a fist pump. "I thought that I was almost too late. I thought you would have already closed up shop and gone clothes shopping."

Ayame's cheeks puffed up and she put the final bowl of ramen in front of him, "Hey, I do more than shop. I run the best ramen shop in town."

"Yeah... but if you had a choice, would you be here or shopping?" Naruto said with the hint of a smirk. Hanging out with that Uchiha had been nothing with but a bad example on him and now the Uchiha's nonchalatent attitude and arrogance had rubbed off on him. That smirk was the most obvious show of the Uchiha's influence.

"I enjoy shopping but after a couple of hours even I've had enough. I like working here," Ayame said with a smile as she finished cleaning up the last couple of dishes, "because I get to see..." Suprised by her own boldness for a few seconds she had begun what her true reasons for why she loved her job but then caught herself and trailed off.

"See what?" Naruto said eating the last of his ramen.

"Nothing, nothing."

"Not nothing! What were you going to say?" Naruto said. His voice regaining the old noise and excitement. He was looking at her with a light in his eyes, "What is that you got to see Kakashi's face all those years ago? See a bunch of shinobi every day? What is it?"

"I get to see you everyday..." Ayame whispered quietly, cupping her face in her hands, trying to hide the dark blush that erupted over her face.

"Wha- What do you mean Ayame-chan?" Naruto said confused with a small blush on his face. Ayame didn't answer but instead leaned across the counter and kissed the blond boy gently on the lips. It wasn't a passionate or hard kiss. In all reality it was little more than just hte barest touchs of skin on skin. No movements, no tongue, and it only lasted the fraction of a second. But it was enough for even Naruto, one of the densest shinobi in Konoha.

Ayame, still blushing furiously, turned away from Naruto the second their lips parted, grabbed his empty bowl and flipped on the water. The rushing sound of the water made it hard to hear as she washed the bowl several times, finalling drying it off and putting it away. Turning around to expect Naruto gone she found him still sitting there, a small blush on his normally confident and outspoken face.

With a slightly hesitant voice he asked the mortified girl, "Hey Ayame-chan... If you could get Teuchi-sama to watch the shop for a while on Saturday, would you like to go shopping with me?"

"I'd love to Naruto-kun, but only if it's with you."


End file.
